[nabs-l] Disclosing That I am Blind onjob/internship application process?

Fri Jul 24 22:20:02 UTC 2015

Afternoon, Karl,

         But isn't a foundational layer of our blind identities, in 
fact, our ocular blindness? Personally, I don't feel particularly 
comfortable naming myself ahead of my blindness. I love my having had 
blastoma, love my fake eyes and above all, love my blindness!
CarThis is, as others have said, debated.  In the NFB we for the most 
part describe ourselves as "blind people" and as "the blind."  There 
are very good reasons for that; other personal characteristics don't 
use person first language.  For instance, I would describe myself as 
"a straight, white, male" not as "a person who is straight, white, 
and a male."  Setting disability up as the exception to our normal 
ways of talking about ourselves seems like a very bad idea if we 
believe that blindness and other disabilities are characteristics 
like any others.  They also play into the medical model of disability 
(we describe diseases in person first language e.g. a person with 
cancer, a person with heart disease etc.), so person first language 
with regard to disabilities plays into the public narrative that 
disabilities are diseases to be cured.  .  There is, of course, the 
issue of the etymology of "disability" as literally meaning a 
"non-ability", but I'm not convinced that describing ourselves as 
"impaired," which is the only alternative I've heard of, really has 
better connotations.

>Best,
>Karl
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: justin williams via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>Date sent: Fri, 24 Jul 2015 14:15:39 -0400
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Disclosing That I am Blind onjob/internship
>application process?
>
>The correct term is someone who has a disability. You wouldn't say someone
>who is disabled.  If you do that with true proes in the field, they will get
>you for that. The theory is that a disability does not make you disabled.
>Justin.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti Shelton
>via nabs-l
>Sent: Friday, July 24, 2015 1:17 PM
>To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>Cc: Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Disclosing That I am Blind on job/internship
>application process?
>
>Hi, Miso and all,
>
>I'm in a position where my field helps people who have disabilities.
>I would be very selective in using this, but if I'm applying to work in a
>school's special needs program I might say, "As someone who is disabled I
>believe I will have a greater sense of empathy and knowledge of disability
>issues than someone who does not have a disability."  That could also lead
>into talk about role modeling and the student feeling more comfortable
>discussing disability issues with me than their non-disabled parents,
>teachers, friends, etc. However, if I'm applying for a job in someplace like
>a hospital setting, where disability is not the main thing, I would say the
>same but say, "As I have been hospitalized as a child to undergo surgeries
>and other treatments," instead of the disability bit.
>
>I currently hold two jobs and am waiting to hear back from another where
>blindness was a factor in my hiring process.  One sounds similar to yours in
>that it is an accessibility tester for my school, and the other is at a
>center for the blind in my hometown where I work the phones at the front
>desk.  I have 2 separate resumes to use when applying for one or the other
>kind of job; for jobs that don't want to hear about blindness stuff I've got
>a very clean-cut resume, but for jobs like this and the disability services
>office one I interviewed for I have one that mentions the access technology
>I can use, the braille codes I know, my experience working with others who
>have disabilities, etc.
>
>You also have to be careful on resumes with the scholarships; my "clean" one
>doesn't mention the word blind at all, except for that I volunteered at one
>place for the blind for a significant time under music therapists and the
>center where I was a receptionist.  The other one mentions it far more,
>including my NFB scholarships at the national and state level, the camp I
>counsel for, etc.  Also on the clean copy I use "visually impaired" when
>describing positions that have me working with blind people.  Not that I'm a
>fan of doing that in normal life, but in my field it is the politically
>correct terminology and it isn't as jarring as saying blind.
>
>On 7/24/15, Bryan Duarte via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>I would like to share my recent experience with this topic. I was
>recently contact by Google to explore my career opportunities with
>them in the Software Engineering field. They had a copy of my resume
>in hand already and I do not disclose that I am blind but I do make
>several references to my research focus areas, student organizations I
>am apart of, and my student clubs I operate. Each of these areas on my
>resume give insight to my focus on the blind and low vision community.
>I also make reference to the different tools I use and am proficient
>in including the screen readers I use and Braille display.
>
>Now during this initial contact I talked with the recruiter for about
>an hour before he eventually began telling me how the interview
>process would operate. I would be expected to use google hangouts to
>share my screen and google docs to share with an engineer so they
>could watch me write code collaboratively. This part was ok I still did
>not disclose my blindness.
>Next he explained that if I were to be moved to the next stage of the
>process they would be flying me out to Mountain View California for a
>series of follow up interviews with four more engineers where I would
>be expected to write code once again, but this time it would be
>writing it on a white board. For software engineers this is a common
>way of laying out code when working on teams so I was familiar with
>the possibility this would be asked of me. Now I had a decision to
>make here. I could disclose my blindness and give them the opportunity
>to make accommodations for me a head of time, or I could show up to
>the interview concealing my disability and potentially set myself up
>for failure. I continued to listen intently to how the process was
>going to work and when he asked me if I had any questions I took this
>opportunity to say, "Yes actually I do have a question and a few comments."
>I went on to explain that I have no problem using google hangouts and
>google docs to write code, but I did have a little issue with white
>boarding code.
>My exact words were something to the effect of, well you might notice
>my references to all the focus on blind accessibility and assistive
>technology, he replied yes, and I told him it is because I am a
>software engineer who has no problem developing software with the best
>of them but I do it as a blind person. As you might guess he was able
>to read between the lines when he reviewed my resume and already had a
>pretty good idea but as a good recruiter he was not going to ask the
>question unless I first brought it up.
>
>
>To sum this up I will be having an interview with Google engineers
>this August and if I should make it to the second stages of interviews
>they are well aware of my disability, my need for accommodations, and
>more than willing to make those necessary accommodations. I think we
>as people with a disability in a world that is becoming more and more
>aware of our presents and drive for equal and competitive employment
>it is in our favor to wait for the right time and place to disclose
>our disability in a way that makes it known we will be doing things
>differently but we can and will still be committed to the opportunity
>just as the rest of the people who interview. I hope this helps.
>
>Go Devils!
>
>Bryan Duarte
>ASU Software Engineering
>QwikEyes CEO
>
>On Jul 24, 2015, at 8:57 AM, Justin Harford via nabs-l
><nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>wrote:
>
>You could put blind related experience on your resume. For example,
>if you served on the board of the Association of blind students at
>any level, you could put that on your resume as part of your experience.
>
>This is if you were looking to disclose.
>
>Sent from my iPad
>
>On Jul 24, 2015, at 6:00 AM, Suzanne Germano via nabs-l
><nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>My opinion if you put in on a resume you make it look like maybe it
>is an issue. It is like at a career fair it would have been awkward
>for me to say Hi I am Suzanne I am looking for an internship and I
>am legally blind.
>What
>i did do was use my cane so they would know why I was squinting and
>holding paperwork to my nose.
>
>If it is just an inconvenience then why put it on a resume? just
>show up at the interview with your cane or dog.
>
>You resume should only speak to why you are a fit for the job. Now
>don't hide it for example if you received and NFB Scholarship then
>you add that under awards.
>
>Suzanne
>
>On Fri, Jul 24, 2015 at 7:38 AM, Carly  via nabs-l <
>nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>Morning, Justin,
>
>If blindness remains like a party line insists, nothing more than a
>what
>do they call it,   mere inconvenience, then why aren't we encouraged to
>be
>forthright about this personal characteristic? Feels a little
>dishonest to me. Aren't we supposed to embrace this personal
>characteristic? For my part, I love my blindness, want people whom
>mix with me also to regard this blindness in a positive light.
>Car
>
>disability of any sort.  However, some situations do benefit you
>to disclose such.  Usually, I wouldn't disclose until you have the
>interview for sure, and I wouldn't do that unless my disability
>was obvious upon sight.
>So,
>if
>you have a cane, dog, or something to indicate you have a
>disability, in other words, your disability is not hidden, telling
>the interviewer before you arrive lessens the shock value, and at
>least gives you a better chance of having an honest interview.
>It
>also gives you the ability to better access whether or not the
>place in question is a good fit for you; you are interviewing them
>as much as they are interviewing you. Of course, you can just go
>to the interview not having told them anything if you think that
>is best, you are not required to disclose at all.  If you are in
>need of an accommodation during the interview application or
>interview process, then you have to disclose in order to receive
>the appropriate accommodation.
>  I
>hope this helps.
>
>Justin.
>-----Original Message-----
>From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Miso
>Kwak via nabs-l
>Sent: Friday, July 24, 2015 3:11 AM
>To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>Cc: Miso Kwak <kwakmiso at aol.com
>Subject: [nabs-l] Disclosing That I am Blind on job/internship
>application process?
>
>Hello everyone,
>What are your thoughts about disclosing our blindness when
>applying to internships and/or jobs?
>I currently have a job (which is my first official job) so I have
>done it once, but I had an easy way.
>My blindness was a major factor in being hired because I work for
>making an accessible campus map for my university. I got recruited
>because I was a blind student who was active on campus, so I did
>not have to think about when and how to disclose my blindness.
>I am currently applying to different internships with hope of
>getting one to complete one of my minor requirements.
>So I am a bit confused and concerned on how I should handle
>disclosing that I am blind.
>Would you do it on case by case basis?
>For instance, if you were applying to an organization that mainly
>serves blind client, would you disclose that you are blind,
>whereas, if you were applying for a corporate internship or a baby
>sitting job, you would not?
>I'd just like to hear your thoughts on this matter.
>Thank you in advance.
>Miso Kwak
>
>
>
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>--
>Kaiti Shelton
>University of Dayton-Music Therapy
>President, Ohio Association of Blind Students 2013-Present Secretary, The
>National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division 2015-2016
>
>"You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back!"
>
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